


Guest

by yeaka



Series: Yutopian Zoo [30]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Animal Ears, Animal Traits, Ficlet, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 10:17:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13568496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: JJ gets a visitor.





	Guest

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is set in the same partial-animal AU as some of my other ficlets, but it’s stand-alone and you don’t need to read them for this. (Binturong!Otabek lives in the woods around JJ’s house.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Yuri on Ice or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

Despite his obnoxious personality and isolated house in the middle of the woods, JJ seems to get a fair amount of visitors. Otabek usually sees or hears them coming, driving up the winding path at the front of the property. Today, he’s lounging in a particularly tall pine just beyond the garage, and he has a perfect view of the oncoming traffic. Not that that means much to him. He rarely bothers going to meet JJ’s friends. He keeps his spot on the long, thick branch cast out beneath the sun, basking in those pleasant rays.

Far below him, a new car pulls to a stop. One door opens, omitting a small human that looks familiar. Otabek leans a little closer and sniffs the air to confirm it; the man is one of the handlers at the zoo that JJ first took Otabek home from. For one paralyzing moment, Otabek wonders if the man has come to take him _back_. Then he reminds himself that JJ would never let that happen. Nor would he. The zoo wasn’t _bad_ , exactly, but he’s gotten used to life here. Then the second door opens and reveals another hybrid.

Though binturongs are sometimes called ‘bearcats’ by humans, they bear no actual relation to true felines. Otabek understands cats better than most anyway. He had a tiger friend back at the zoo, one he and JJ occasionally go to visit. The hybrid that slips out of the car definitely has cat in him, but he doesn’t have the fierce markings of many of the larger cats, and his tail is far fluffier. His bearing doesn’t scream _predator_ , but rather, _domestic_ —must be a common house cat. Otabek often heard patrons at the zoo speak of those. 

They sound like relatively dull creatures, and he maintains his post as the handler and cat approach the front door of JJ’s house. They’ve barely knocked by the time it’s wrenching open, JJ stepping out to animatedly greet them both. It’s a bit too far for Otabek to easily decipher their conversation. JJ shakes the handler’s hand, turns to the hybrid, and gets a faceful of _cat_.

Otabek stiffens. The hybrid rubs himself against JJ’s entire body, flattening in to nuzzle at his cheek and wrap long arms around his waist, yellow hair catching in the morning light. He’s decently tall, decently toned, almost as built as JJ is. He looks like he’s _purring_ , like Yuri sometimes will if Otabek brings him treats or ‘cool’ clothes.

But this isn’t Yuri—this is an unknown element brushing up all over his human. 

With a sharp breath, Otabek pulls himself back from that thought. He doesn’t own any humans. JJ’s hardly _his_. They just live together. And even that’s a stretch, given that Otabek spends more time outdoors than in.

Still, as soon as JJ ushers the cat into his house, Otabek lifts up onto all fours and slinks back along the branch. He doesn’t stay to see if the handler follows in or putters back to the car. He chooses another branch to crawl across, then leaps to the next tree, enormous tail flicking out to catch and hold it steady. Otabek makes his way back through three different trunks before he’s near enough to the window of JJ’s bedroom. It’s almost always left open for him. He climbs through and sets his bare feet down onto the carpet. In JJ’s borrowed jeans and shirt, he makes for the stairs, following the sounds of busy chatter and the foreign scent lining his home. 

He finds JJ in the living room, gesturing at the weird drumset and guitar he’s got sitting in the corner for his group of loud friends that always keep Otabek up too late. Otabek knows this new cat isn’t there to join the ‘band.’ Hybrids know better. But the cat’s nodding away as JJ talks and giving him a big, broad smile.

When neither turns to look at his entrance, Otabek clears his throat. That shuts JJ up, and he turns his welcoming smirk over to Otabek, barking out, “Oh hey, Chris is here.” Maybe because Otabek just keeps blankly staring at him, JJ adds, “Oh... did I forget to tell you? Oops, sorry—I’m babysitting the zoo director’s cat for a few days. Wild, huh?”

Otabek thinks a domestic cat is far from ‘wild,’ but maybe the concept of a hybrid pet is stranger to a human. Even one that has a hybrid friend, if that’s even what they are. He’s certainly not JJ’s _pet_. 

Before Otabek can answer, JJ’s lifted his hand to riffle through ‘Chris’’ hair, and Chris leans into it and purrs. He spends several seconds luxuriating in that touch before he peeks his bright eyes open to peer over at Otabek, and then he all but moans, “It’s a _pleasure_ to meet you.” His voice is thickly accented, though not in the way that JJ’s is. His tone is lilting, gaze powerful. It doesn’t help that his trim pants and button-up shirt cling to him like a second skin, which would be fine if they were out in the forest, but is quite a different thing right next to JJ. JJ seems to have enough trouble resisting temptation as it is.

Otabek has no idea why he thought that. Why he thinks that. A hybrid shouldn’t be tempting to a human, and what’s tempting to JJ shouldn’t matter. Otabek grunts, “Hi,” and just sort of keeps staring. He wishes JJ’s grin weren’t quite so... slick. 

“So,” JJ starts up again, turning back to Chris and looping one arm around his middle, “Where should we take the tour next?”

Chris purrs, “The bedroom,” without any hesitation. JJ laughs like that’s hilarious, and Chris smiles indulgently, but it doesn’t look like he’s joking. JJ obliges, strolling right for the stairwell and taking his guest with him, already back to babbling on about himself and how his bedroom’s ‘ultra-stylish.’

Otabek steps aside to allow them to pass. And he watches them go, wondering distantly why it feels _wrong_ to do so and why he even cares.


End file.
